Amirah Droudis, the partner of Man Haron Monis, was originally granted bail after being charged with murder. Photo: AAP

These were the words of the magistrate who granted bail to Martin Place siege gunman Man Haron Monis and his partner when they faced court on brutal murder charges last year.

Magistrate William Pierce allowed Monis, 50, to walk free after he was accused of orchestrating the stabbing death of his ex-wife and mother-of two Noleen Hayson Pal.

"If there was a threat it was to this one woman who was murdered – if, there was a threat," Mr Pierce told Penrith Local Court at the end of a three-hour bail hearing in December last year.

Monis' partner Amirah Droudis was also granted bail after she was charged with carrying out the killing of Ms Pal, who was stabbed 18 times before she was set alight in a western Sydney unit block.

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The self-styled sheik, who was not considered by the magistrate to be "a threat", was later charged with more than 40 counts of sexual assault and went on to stage the deadly Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney last week.

When Monis appeared before magistrate Pierce he had already been convicted of sending offensive letters to the grieving families of seven Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.

But the magistrate believed the murder charges against him were "weak" and there was a possibility that someone else with a "grudge" could have ordered Ms Pal's death.

"The case against them, the circumstantial case, I think is weak," he said.

"It could've been either someone else or it could have been the ex-boyfriend who arranged to do it."

"It is a little cute isn't it that [the prosecution says] there's just no reasonable possibility that it could be anyone else, the fact is it could be any number of people."

Monis suggested to police it had been the Iranian Secret Police or ASIO who had broken into his Werrington unit block the day his ex-wife was murdered.

The Crown at the time said Monis went to "extreme and elaborate lengths" to give himself an alibi at the time of Ms Pal's death, including faking a heart attack that resulted in a car accident outside a police station.

Monis was also filmed asking someone what time it was and filmed a clock.

"As much as anything else it is a simple matter of fairness [to grant bail]. There is and always really, comes down to this mainly, are they likely to turn up? Yes they are, they have got nowhere else to go," Mr Pierce said.

Mr Pierce granted Monis conditional bail but a further two magistrates allowed him to remain free when he was later charged with serious sexual assault offences.

Monis was refused bail when he was first charged with three sexual assault offences but did not apply to be released from custody when he appeared before Parramatta Local court on April 16.

But six days after the state government introduced sweeping changes to bail laws, Monis was granted bail before the same court by magistrate Joan Baptie on May 26.

The new laws meant magistrates and judges should use a two-step test to assess whether the accused posed an "unacceptable risk" of reoffending and whether the risk could be mitigated by bail conditions.

Monis was on conditional bail in October 2014 when police laid a further a further 40 sexual assault charges against six women who had visited him in his capacity as a "spiritual healer".

Again, his bail was continued by magistrate Dorelle Pinch.

Following the grant of bail in a series of high-profile cases including those of bikies Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi, Hassan "Sam" Ibrahim and accused wife-killer Steven Fesus, the Baird government announced in August that the laws would be toughened.

The changes come into effect on January 28, 2015; they include a revised test under which an accused person who is assessed as an "unacceptable risk" will be refused bail.